Aug 06, 2013 02:59 PM EDT
Pink Planet Photographed While Orbiting Sun-Like Star by Subaru Telescope

Astronomers have captured a photograph of a pink alien planet orbiting around a star similar to Earth's sun.

The planet, called GJ 504b, looked a lot different than experts originally believed after they reviewed the photo and data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii according to SPACE.com.

"Our near-infrared camera reveals that its color is much more blue than other imaged planets, which may indicate that its atmosphere has fewer clouds," said study researcher Michael McElwain, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a press statement.

The exoplanet orbits the star GJ 504, which is approximately 57 light-years away from Earth. The star is also significantly hotter than Earth's sun and is slightly visible to the naked eye in the Virgo constellation.

Click here to see the image taken.

The star's system is just 160 million years old, compared to Earth's system, which is believed to be 4.5 billion years old.

"If we could travel to this giant planet, we would see a world still glowing from the heat of its formation with a color reminiscent of a dark cherry blossom, a dull magenta," said McElwain in a press statement.

The planet is believed to have a temperature of approximately 460 degrees Fahrenheit, or 237 Celsius, according to SPACE.com.

"This is among the hardest planets to explain in a traditional planet-formation framework," said study researcher Markus Janson in a press statement. "Its discovery implies that we need to seriously consider alternative formation theories, or perhaps to reassess some of the basic assumptions in the core-accretion theory."

The discovery of GJ 504b was thanks to a survey conducted by the Strategic Exploration of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru (SEEDS) according to SPACE.com.

The study on GJ 504b will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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